Friction-clutch.



-\No. 819,544. l PATENTEDMAY l, 1906.

A HERISSON l FRICTION CLUTCH. APPLICATION FILED Nov 22 1904 PATENT oEmoE..

ALBERT HERISSON, OF NIMES, FRANCE.

FRICTION-CL'UTCH.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed November 22, 1904. Serial No. 233,861.

Patented May 1, 1906.

T0 @ZZ whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT HRIssoN, engineer, a citizen of the French Republic, residing at Nimes, Department of the Gard, France, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Friction-Clutches, of which the following is a specification.

This invention consists in providing friction-clutches with a cup-shaped member, part of the circumferential wall of which is rendered expansible, while the other part is rigid. This arrangement is intended for all clutches in which the pressure on the inner wall of the cup-shaped member is not the same on the whole of the circumference, but is greater on certain points of the rubbingsurface. When these points are on the expansible part of the cup-shaped member7 the progress of the movable part of the clutch is much facilitated and the power of the clutch greatly increased.

I will describe, with reference to the accompanying drawings, manners in which my invention can be carried into practical effect.

Figure 1 is a half end view of the cupsha ed member, the cover being removed; an Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of part of the clutch, together with the said cup-shaped member.

In the arrangement shown in Figs. i and 2 the cup-shaped member a is rendered rigid by making the peripheral walls and the flange l) on the o en side of suitable thickness, and apart o the vcup-shaped member a, say one-ha f, is provided with notches c, common to the wall of the cup-shaped member and its flange. Besides these notches a )artially-circular slot d separates the notched half of the wall from the bottom of the cupshaped member and` allows of the said notched wall and ange freely expanding.

The movable portion of the clutch comprises tWo diametrically opposite shoes g, mounted by asquare pin r ina pieces, screwed in a socket t, which can slide in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the shafts p n in a bearing y, rotating with the secondary shaft u. The adjusting by screwing of the piece s in the socket t. allows the distance between.

the shoes and the axis of the shaft u to be exactly regulated. At the end of the sockets t are mounted rollers w, on which bear wedges jointed to the lugs y of a sleeve z, sliding on the shaft u, by means of a lever z2, engaged in an annular groove z of said sleeve.

If the lever is acted on in. order that the sleeve z be brought nearer-the shaft p, the

ternal Wall of the cup-shaped member a. (The arrow e indicates the direction of rotation.) Then when the rubbing part of the said movable part of the clutch reaches the expansible part of the cup the said cup is distended under the action of the pressure, and the movable member of the clutch will enter farther into the cup-shaped member. the movable part reaches the rigid portion of the cup-shaped member, if the pressure-exerting parts be not reversible the ressure of the rubbing part, and' consequently the friction, will be considerably increased relatively to the amount of thrust then exerted on the clutch-controllinggear. The power of the clutches provided with this cup-shaped member is only limited by the strength of the parts, and if the elastic part of the cupshaped member has sufficient elasticity a light pressure on the clutch-collar'will produce a considerable progress of the movable part of the clutch. With this cup-shaped member metallic rubbing-surfaces `immersed in oil may be used. In order to prevent the oil from escaping, the notches c in the peripheral wall and in the flange and the partiallycircular slotd in the bottom of the cup-shaped member a arefilled with a soft metal which should as nearly as is practicable have the same density as the metal of the cup-shaped member a, so as* to insure proper balance.

The cup-shaped member a is closed by two elastic half-covers h, offlanged metal. A leather or like washerf, held in position by a fiange g, attached to the halves of the cover, insures a tight joint between the cover and the shaft.

The possibility'given to the clutch-operating body to penetrate more easily at some points of the wall of the cup-shaped member a than in others may also be obtained by other arrangements, such as by decreasing the thickness of the wall through a certain extent of the said wall or by providing the outer side of the said wall .with ribs at one place or more than one place or by using two half-covers of different kinds, one rigid and the other capable of extending, or by making `the inner part of the cup-shaped member partly oval.

Having now particularly described and as- IOO IIO

5 ber having a oertained the nature of the said invention and in What manner `the same is to be per forr'ned, I declare that What I claim isl. In a friction-clutch, a cup-shaped memortion of its circumferential Wall expandib e and the other ortion eX- tending from and to said eXpandlble portion rigid, thereby causing the movable ,party of the yclutch to press unequally on the Walls of 1o- .the said cupfshaped-memberand toprogress more readily when the points of maximum pressure are in and againstV the expandible l portion of the cup-shaped member, -thusdetermining a considerable increase ,of .pressure 15 When they rea-ch theV undeformable. part of the cup-shapedl member, substantially vas hereinbefore described,

2. yA friction-clutch `having as a part so, as. to,r permit of the movable ALBERT HRISSON.

Witnesses:

.-JOHN BAKER, PAUL BLUM. 

